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Abbrevations for Network terms

Acronyms and Abbreviations Network Terms

ASIC – Application Specific Integrated CircuitIntegrated circuit designs those are specific to the intended application, as opposed to designs for general-purpose use.
ATM - Asynchronous Transfer ModeA packet-switching technology developed to support both voice and data on a common network infrastructure. ATM uses 53-byte cells and can be transported on both LANs and WANs at a variety of operating rates.
BeaconA frame sent by a Token Ring NIC indicating that the NIC is not receiving valid frames or clocking.
Collapsed BackboneCollapsed Backbone is a network design concept where the backbone LAN segments are replaced with high-speed switches, hubs, or routers. The back-plane buses of these devices replace the LAN segment that had previously been the backbone.
FDDI - Fiber Distributed Data InterfaceA shared 100-Mbps fiber token-passing LAN technology using a counter-rotating ring technique for fault tolerance.
HSTR - High Speed Token RingHigh Speed Token Ring is a standard for 100-Mbps Token Ring technology.
IP - Internet ProtocolThe primary Layer 3 protocol in the Internet suite. In addition to Internet routing, IP provides fragmentation and reassembly of data-grams and error reporting. Along with TCP, IP represents the heart of the Internet protocol suite.
IPX - Internet Packet ExchangeNovell's proprietary networking protocol.
ISL – Inter Switch LinkInter Switch Link is a Cisco protocol that enables full-length frames from multiple Ethernet or Token Ring VLANs to be transported simultaneously across the same Fast Ethernet link.
LANE - LAN EmulationThe ATM Forum defined process whereby an ATM network emulates a significant part of an existing IEEE LAN, specifically Ethernet and Token Ring.
LNM - LAN Network ManagerIBM's PC-based Token Ring network management product.
MAN – Metropolitan Area NetworkA network spanning several sites within a metropolitan area or similar, relatively short, distances.
Micro-segmentationThe process of reconfiguring stations from a shared-media LAN to smaller groups using LAN switches.
NetBIOS - Network Basic Input/Output SystemA session-layer interface specification from IBM and Microsoft.
NIC - Network Interface CardA card installed in an expansion slot of a PC that provides an interface to a LAN.
SNA - Systems Network ArchitectureIBM's networking architecture.
RIF - Routing Information FieldThe field in a Token Ring frame that contains the ring and bridge information used for routing through source-route networks.
RMON -Remote MonitoringNetwork management agents that can be placed in network components to monitor, gather, and report (via SNMP) management information, such as traffic statistics, error alarms, events, history data, and topology information pertaining to the network segment being monitored.
source routing—A network routing technique whereby the route to be followed by a packet is specified by the source station. In Token Ring networks, stations typically discover the routes available to be used via broadcast explorer frames.
SRB - Source Route BridgingA Token Ring bridging method that routes frames through bridges based on a route description contained in a RIF of the frame to be bridged. This routing information is provided by the station originating the frame, thus the term source routing.
SR/TLB - Source Route Translational BridgingA bridging method that allows bridging from a source-routing Token Ring LAN to a LAN using transparent bridging. In addition to adapting the two bridging methods, these bridges also perform the required translations of the different frame formats, bit order, and so forth.
STP - Shielded Twisted PairA type of cable used in LANs. See also, UTP.
TB - Transparent BridgingA LAN bridging method where frames are forwarded based on destination addresses. A transparent bridge normally "learns" which station addresses reside on each port of the bridge and stores these addresses in tables, which it then uses as lookup tables for making subsequent forwarding decisions. This bridging method is transparent to the stations attached to the LAN, thus the name transparent bridging.
TIC - Token Ring Interface CouplerAn IBM term used to refer to the Token Ring NIC of the 3745 Communications Controller.
TCP - Transmission Control ProtocolA full-duplex, acknowledged, and flow-controlled transport layer service to upper-layer protocols.
UTP - Unshielded Twisted PairA type of cable used for LANs. See also, STP.
VLAN - Virtual LANA concept of defining one or more logical LANs, using the set of components existing in a physical LAN. A LAN broadcast domain.